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PETER LUCAS: Queen Nancy strikes back at back-stabbing Moulton

There is an old saying that goes, "When you strike at a king, you must kill him."

The quote is generally attributed to Concord essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, who died over a century ago.

But it could apply to fellow Harvard graduate Seth Moulton, 38, the ambitious congressman from the North Shore who wants to run for president.

Only in Moulton's case, he struck at a "queen," Democrat House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, but it amounts to the same thing.

But instead of "killing" the 77-year old Democrat Party leader, Moulton only wounded her.

Now the furious Pelosi has struck back, and Moulton is paying the price.

Pelosi, in the release of a gushing private letter from Moulton, has brought up the question of Moulton's character, his ingratitude and his utter lack of loyalty.

Apparently to the former U.S. Marine, who served in Iraq, Semper Fi is a relative term.

Pelosi helped Moulton when, as a first-term representative, he needed her help, and Moulton in return attacked her when she needed his help.

If this were combat, it would be like a wounded Pelosi calling a medic, only to have the medic show up and shoot you.

Moulton's very public insurgency campaign to dump Pelosi as minority leader could not come at a worse time for Pelosi.

Pelosi has gone through a rough patch. Not only did she suffer through the loss of Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump, but was blamed for the defeat of her candidates in four recent special congressional elections to Republicans.

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And while Pelosi has fought off any suggestion that she step aside as Democrat House minority leader -- she is blamed for Democrat loss of control of the House, as well -- she has stumbled through several press conferences while apparently suffering brief memory lapses.

Forgotten in all of this is the fact that Pelosi is the first woman to become speaker, before she was ousted when the Republicans took over the House in 2011.

It is also possible that she could become the second female speaker if the Democrats regain control of the House in the 2018 elections.

At issue is this. Last September Moulton wrote an obsequious three-page handwritten letter to Pelosi thanking her "for all the ways you have been helpful to me in my first term."

Moulton thanked Pelosi for his appointment to the Armed Services Committee, which "thrilled" his constituents, and for giving him a "leadership role" in getting on national television to defend President Obama's Iran deal.

He wrote that "a huge part of my success" was due to Pelosi's contribution to "the quality of my staff."

"The bottom line is that I'm proud to be in public service, but I wouldn't be able to do the job as well without your help," Moulton wrote.

That was in September. In November, after Republicans retained control of the House, Moulton was among the first of a bunch of House Democrats to turn on her. They demanded that House Democrats dump her as minority leader and replace her with Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan. Pelosi won the support of enough Democrats to keep the job.

Now, after Democrat Party defeat in two special congressional elections -- not including two earlier defeats -- in which the Republicans made Pelosi an issue, Moulton has once again come out in support of dumping Pelosi.

The Boston Globe, which broke the Pelosi letter story, masked the leaker of the letter by reporting that it was "obtained from a former aide to a member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation."

When a reporter uses the euphemism "obtained" for "leak," it means that whatever document is in play, it was handed to the reporter, who then masks the leaker.

Since Moulton sent his handwritten letter personally to Pelosi, it is only logical to assume that Pelosi is behind the leak. This is not good news for Moulton.

When you go to Congress you choose whether to be a show horse or a workhorse. Moulton is the show horse. He looks good and makes a lot of noise, and that's about it.

Meanwhile, out in western Massachusetts, veteran U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, a workhorse who doesn't seek attention, hosted a gala commemorating restoration and reopening of the long-closed Springfield Union Station.

The cost of the federally funded project came to around $95 million, most of it in federal funds and grants. It provided a lot of good jobs for a lot of people. It will revitalize the city and the region.

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